U.K. SUBS – ‘SubVersions’ Album Review

U.K. SUBS – SubVersions

1st wave punk legends U.K. Subs forthcoming album SubVersions, will be released on June 22nd via Cleopatra Records. This is a really cool and eclectic collection of cover songs, including songs originally recorded by acts like MC5, Motorhead, The Stooges, David Bowie, Queens Of The Stone Age and more!

Formed in 1976, U.K. Subs were one of the first street punk bands and pioneers of the 1st wave of British punk rock who influenced a generation of bands over the decades. Since their start the band has released 26 studio albums. More info can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.K._Subs

If you’re reading this site and don’t know the U.K. Subs, we have an issue! The band are marketing geniuses with 26 albums beginning with each letter of the alphabet from A to Z and now the superbly titled Sub Versions!!!

From the excellent raucous cover of Kick Out The Jams where Charlie Harper is in fine vocal form to the dirty blues of Train Kept A Rollin’ where the guitar work is clean and powerful, this is the Subs at the top of their game! The bluesy punk vibe continues with I Don’t Need No Doctor where Harper defies the years with soaring vocal over some excellent riff work.

On Boston Babies the pace is maintained with some pummeling drums, booming bass and rocking punk vocals driving on a monster set of chords whilst Tired OF Waking Up Tired applies the brakes just a little to bring back the summer of 1979 with a true U.K. Subs sound…brought a smile to our faces here in the basement!

The half way mark of the twelve tracks hits with This Perfect Day with some Ramones style riffs whereas Get Out Of Denver is a rollicking rock ‘n’ roller of a track like Status Quo meets, well, the U.K. Subs!!! The deep bass intro to Feel Good Hit Of The Summer takes the Queens of The Stone Age track and explodes it into some good old 3-chord punk rock thrash – good stuff! Lemmy would be proud of the straight up cover of Bomber as it simply rocks and Roadrunner is a much better version that the Pistols on the Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle.

The penultimate song, 1969 is a tribal drummed infused rocker and sets up the closer, a resplendent version of Suffragette City that adds a totally fresh approach to the original. This is an energetic album that defies the age of the band and it’s members with as fresh a punk rock vibe I’ve heard in years – fantastic album that you can grab here: https://uksubsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/subversions